The 2003 WSOP was the turning point for the Poker community when Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Tennessee, taught us all what a “bluff” was in Poker, when He moved all in on Sammy Farha and then beat the professional player to win the Million Dollar Prize and the coveted bracelet.

No one knew Chris other than family and friends and I am not sure how many people in the world new Sammy other than family and friends in the poker community.

ESPN brought us a new era of TV made heroes by showing the 2003 WSOP in it’s entirety and even made it exciting. They followed up in 2004 when another unknown Greg Raymer played a masterful tournament with 2500 entries and defeated a young mawho had just begun his poker career, David Williams.

The excitemnet generated by these tournaments caught on like wildfire throughout the country. Casino’s started holding NL tournaments and anyone could say,”All In”like their new found Poker protege did on ESPN on Tuesday Nights.

The 2003 main event with its 849 entrants continued to grow and grow and in three years the Main Event had over 8,000 players. Where else could the average person sit next to the superstar Poker Player TV made for us.

Phil Hellmuth, Mike Matasuow, Johhny Chan, The Godfather, Doyle Brunson. Names most of us never knew until 2003. We were used to Babe Ruth, Johny Unitas, Jack Nickalaus Magic Johnson etc. We as mortal humans could not play the sport that made these men famous along side of them as we could Poker Players.

These players started to teach the game to make some extra cash and on-line sites started popping up over night and making deals with these Players to attract new players (us)to their site.

The WSOP became a spectacle much like Super Bowl weekend and Baseball and Basketball Allstar weekends.
Jerseys with Poker Players names and other lines of pokr clothing became very popular.

With all of this, people whom never held a real job and gambled on everything from monopoly to if a girl or guy was going to walk through the door next became household names and signed autographs wherever they went.

There were several successful business people who left their professions because of all the fame and fortune one could win in these Poker Tournaments. Some of them even won and made more money then they could have in their previous profession.

Now some of them think they are so much better than the rest of us. They have developed ego’s and believe they are better than most. I think they have forgotten where they once were. Living in their car or at a friends house, working odd jobs here and there to survive.

The economy has taken a turn for the worse right now and it has yet to affect Poker. I see people going to the Casinos and trying to double their pay check week in and week out. Sponsorships are becoming fewer in all sports and Poker players need backers more than any other sport with the exception of Nascar.

I play Poker not for fame but for the competition I used to enjoy in Basketball and softball before getting hurt and not being able to play them like I used too.

I enjoy sharing my stories in Poker with all of you and getting feedback in your comments.

Just remember who the real heroes are in society today.

Take care and Be safe